


Robin and Pup Pup

by CloakedSparrow



Series: Collected Bat-Family Stories [41]
Category: Batman (Comics), Detective Comics (Comics), Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics), Red Robin (Comics), Robin (Comics)
Genre: Bad Parenting, Bat Brothers, Bat Family, Childhood, Family Feels, Gen, Nanny POV, No Romance, No Sex, No Smut, One Shot, POV Jason Todd, Plushies, Protective Older Brothers, Time Skips, Toys, hint of Batdad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-07
Updated: 2018-09-07
Packaged: 2019-07-08 06:21:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,821
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15924671
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CloakedSparrow/pseuds/CloakedSparrow
Summary: How Tim came to own a Robin plush and how Jason's Pup Pup plush got a friend.





	Robin and Pup Pup

Little Timmy's parents were away for work more often then they were actually home. Rosalind had noticed that early on in her job as the child’s latest nanny. She also noticed that they were likely doing the boy a favor by staying away, since they fought -quite childishly- practically the whole time they were home. She had adamantly refused to deliver hostile messages from one to the other (while they were each close enough to hear what the other was saying anyway -see? _Childish_ ) on more than one occasion. Instead, she'd opt to take her young charge into another room where he wouldn’t be forced to witness the shitshow they called a marriage. 

So when they called in to say that they were extending their current business trip _again_ and would miss the boy’s fourth birthday, she wasn’t surprised. She was even less surprised when they told her to take him to the toy store and let him pick out a gift from them. That’s not to say she wasn’t disappointed. Little by little, she was truly coming to hate her employers. But the pay was excellent, little Timmy himself was a total doll, and she rarely had to deal with them, so she stayed. 

She took the boy to the toy store as ~~ordered~~ directed. He was a very unique child. Bright, quiet, and surprisingly humble for someone born to wealth. Rosalind would like to think she had something to do with that, but she suspected it was juts part of the child’s personality. Perhaps encouraged by one of her predecessors. She encouraged it as well.

In any case, she wasn’t surprised when the boy passed up on the shiny new video game consoles and flashy, expensive bicycles. While the Drakes likely expected to spend a few hundred dollars on their precious child ~~that they totally didn’t deserve~~ , she suspected they’d be walking out of there with a LEGO set or a chemistry set. They were probably talking about twenty, thirty dollars max. She decided she’d take the child to the zoo and buy him a churro and as many cups of birdseed as he wanted for the aviary exhibit that he loved so much. It would still be less than what his parents had expected to spend and he’d have a nice day. 

The boy zoomed in on something in one of the stores kiosks between isles. In it were plushes of Superman, Batman, and the newest addition, a scaled Robin plush. The boy grabbed one of the small dolls with a look of reverence on his tiny face. He hugged it against his little chest as he turned big, icy blue eyes on her. 

“Can I have this one?”

The doll cost less than ten dollars. Rosalind suggested he should get a Batman to go with it. However, Timmy pointed out that his parents had said he was pick _a_ toy of his choosing. That meant singular. So he insisted he should only get the Robin. 

Rosalind had already learned not to try to argue semantics with the too-smart child, so she bought him the Batman from her and hid it in her purse until later while she bought the Robin from his parents. Then they headed to the zoo. Timmy showed his new Robin plush every animal they saw, let it smell his churro, and told him all about the birds as they fed them. One of the employees joked that they should hire the kid, since he knew more about them then they did. 

Later, at Drake Manor, Timmy thanked Rosalind for the day and for his Batman plush. The time difference between Gotham and wherever-the-hell-the-Drakes-were meant they missed calling. Or so she told Timmy. Rosalind actually had no idea why they didn’t call but she’d worry if the letters stopped coming for a couple weeks and not a minute sooner. Sure enough, a birthday card arrived two days later.

Timmy built a Batcave, which he insisted Batman and Robin operated from, out of boxes from the grocery delivery. He made tools and weapons for them out of LEGOs and aluminum foil. He later made a small section of the Gotham skyline for them to patrol. He played with them every day and slept with Robin every knight (Batman slept in the Batcave). When they went out, Batman stayed in the Batcave but Robin went with him everywhere. He even stowed away in Timmy’s backpack when he went to school. 

A few years later, Rosalind couldn’t hold her tongue any longer. When the Drakes contacted her to state they weren’t going to make it back for the holidays and to take Timmy to toy store _again_ (something that had become commonplace for birthdays and holidays), she told them that he’d probably prefer a little face time with his parents. That naturally led to an argument. She’d said some things that were pretty brutal, so it was no wonder when they’d told her she was fired and to be out of their house by the weekend or they’d send the police. 

The Drakes arranged for a babysitter to watch Timmy over the holidays and then made arrangements for him to go to boarding school afterwards. Rosalind felt bad for the boy. She called the day before he shipped out and lied to his babysitter, stating she was a cousin who wanted to wish him well at his new school. The boy was clever enough not to let on who she she really was as they talked. He sounded small and nervous about being sent away. 

“You’re gonna take Robin with you, right?” She waited until he confirmed and then forced a smile into her voice. “Then you have nothing to worry about. He’ll take care of you.”

She hoped it was true. 

Years later, she had moved out of Gotham and was attending university to become a teacher. Sometimes, she still thought about little Timmy. She felt sad when she heard of his parents deaths. She hoped Bruce Wayne knew what a special child he was taking in and that he would truly be there for Timmy. She was angry at the man when she saw the headlines that Timmy, though still a teenager, was taking over as Wayne Enterprises CEO. She desperately hoped that the boy had someone in his life who loved him and put him first. 

She sometimes wondered if she should have kept her mouth shut all those years ago. She knew the boy was destined to be shipped off to boarding school eventually. He’d been too smart and his parents too driven and distant. But she wondered if he might have had a little longer to be a kid, just playing with a plush of his favorite hero and collecting information the way other kids collected action figures or baseball cards. 

Sometimes, she wondered whatever happened to that Robin plush he’d loved so much. 

Little did she know that miles away in Gotham, Jason Todd-Wayne was entering the apartment he shared with his little brother and wondering where the hell the Robin plush that was sitting beside his old Superman plush had come from. It was even one of the old ones from the same set. It wasn’t pristine, not something that had been purchased from a collector. There were a few small stains on the cape that looked like they might have been a few drops of blood. The seam on one of the arms had clearly been restitched by someone who was skilled but lacked the exact shade of thread needed to completely hide the mend. Overall, it looked like the little plush had been well played with at some point in time. 

This had been the kind of toy a little kid takes everywhere with them. The kind that keeps a lonely child company when they have no one else. The kind that comforts a frightened child when they’re scared at night. The kind that shares adventures and keeps secrets. The kind a child loves like a family member. 

Jason put the little plush back where he’d found it, beside his own childhood toy. He noticed Dex watching him with what looked like approval at the action. Suspicion confirmed, he scratched behind the cat’s ears.

“Our little Timbers is just full of surprises, isn’t he?” 

He took one more look at the toy and smiled. “Guess I really was his hero.”

He wasn’t sure why he suddenly craved churros. He could swear he smelled them, faintly, in the apartment. He decided to make some as he sent Tim a text, asking him to pick up some horchata to go with them on his way home from work. It was also a subtle reminder that his little brother needed to leave the office soon. He had some cracked ribs from an escaped Blackgate inmate that had been using venom. He needed rest. 

Tim replied that he was definitely on his way if there were churros involved. 

Jason laughed. He looked at Dex. “Well now I know how to bribe him.”

The cat meowed as if replying and settled into his kitchen bed as though waiting for churros. Sometimes, Jason could swear the cat understood everything he and Tim said. It definitely explained why his little brother -and lately, himself- talked to the cat so often. Either that, or that was the reason neither of them had many other friends. They were happy, mostly, so Jason didn’t dwell on it. 

He did dwell on how to get his injured little brother to take a night off though.

Jason recalled a time he’d been too sick to go out as Robin. Bruce had stayed in with him, watching television and letting Jason sleep against him on the sofa. He knew it was probably the rest more than anything else, but he’d felt a lot better the next morning. He decided that he’d stay in that night as well. Batman and Robin could handle Gotham. He’d take care of his little brother. 

Which apparently included making churros, so he got to it. He contacted Alfred to let him know he was staying in that night but would be home if he was needed. His surrogate grandfather sounded pleased by the news and the heads-up. 

It ended up being a good night. They weren’t called upon for any sort of disaster or case. Tim refrained from doing any work at all. They ate churros and came up with a campaign idea for the next Wizards and Warriors game they’d be playing with their siblings and friends. Then they watched a documentary on the life of birds. Dex came over to knead their laps before plopping down and purring himself to sleep shortly before Tim fell asleep against Jason’s side.

Jason never mentioned the appearance of the Robin plush, but he wore a small smile every time he saw the two little plushes after that.


End file.
